Some of the top baseball players in Mobile and Baldwin Counties were recognized at Mobile Baseball Connection’s year-end banquet at the Azalea City Golf Course Wednesday, May 24.

The player and pitcher of the year from each county made up the Fabulous Four and combined with the Elite Eight created the Terrific Twelve honorees.

The Baldwin County player of the year was awarded to Baldwin County Tiger senior Trevor Murphy, a Bishop State signee, and the pitcher of the year was Bayside Academy Admiral senior Josh Gunther, a Wake Forest signee.

Seniors Hollon Brock and Brooks Brasfield from the Fairhope Pirates, sophomore Cole Dean from the Bayshore Christian Eagles, junior Connor Gehr from the Gulf Shores Dolphins and senior Pierce Dutton from the state runner-up Spanish Fort Toros represented Baldwin County on the Elite Eight. Brock signed with Lurleen B. Wallace and Dutton inked his pledge to Shelton State.

From Mobile County, St. Paul’s sophomore Edward McLeod was selected as the player of the year and Saraland senior Bryson Goff was awarded pitcher of the year honors. They were joined by senior Olin Ward from UMS-Wright, junior Connor Gatwood from Baker and junior Brooks Womble from Saraland in creating the Terrific Twelve after they earned spots on the Elite Eight.

Murphy, Gunther top performers off the field as well

While many of the members of the Terrific Twelve helped their teams to the postseason this past spring, Baldwin County’s top duo of Murphy and Gunther had impacts on their programs that will last longer than their playing careers.

Although both of their respective coaches said their stats spoke for themselves, it was the people they are off the field that pushed them over the edge.

“He’s one of your reserved leaders, you want your best players to be the best at everything, the hardest workers; this guy was the first one to practice every single day,” Tiger skipper Trenton Higginbothem said. “You can see his thumbprint over our weightroom now. It’s easy for me to go in there and give our guys a lift but they’re pushing each other now because him and our other seniors really pushed each other.”

“When we got beat in the playoffs, my five-year-old son’s crying not because we lost but because he knows Josh is graduating,” Admiral head coach Matt Limbaugh said. “He just does an absolutely amazing job around my guys, my younger boys all look up to him and he continues to reach out to them. He is that true role model and I couldn’t have asked for a better captain this year.”

According to unofficial stats compiled by Joey Warner and MBC, Murphy finished the season with a .451 batting average where half of his 46 hits went for extra bases between 7 home runs, 14 doubles and 2 triples. He drove in 34 runs and scored 26 runs, drew 15 walks and stole 1 base offensively. On the mound, he added 6 wins and 1 save with a 3.16 ERA and 40 strikeouts with complete-game efforts in each of Baldwin County’s Class 6A Area 2 series.

Gunther was lights out on the mound for Bayside Academy and led the Terrific Twelve in all three pitching categories after he racked up 10 wins and a 0.73 ERA to go along with 97 strikeouts on the season. Only UMS-Wright’s Olin Ward also registered a sub-1 ERA at 0.89.

Gunther also delivered at the plate for the Admirals and recorded a .355 batting average with 39 hits, 28 RBIs, 27 runs, 20 walks and 4 stolen bases. Similarly, nearly half of his hits went for extra bases between 5 home runs, 8 doubles and 4 triples.

Elite Eight stats

Also in the unofficial stats, Fairhope’s Brasfield led the Terrific Twelve in batting average (.476), hits (60) and runs (49). His 4 triples and 13 stolen bases both ranked third and his 18 walks were fourth. On the mound, Brasfield added 4 wins and 1 save with a 2.55 ERA and 22 strikeouts.

Brock tied his teammate for the best batting average amongst the Terrific Twelve at .476 to go along with his 50 hits (2 home runs, 13 doubles, 1 triple) where his doubles ranked fourth. Brock also delivered 35 RBIs, 25 runs, 26 walks and 6 stolen bases.

Gulf Shores’ Gehr recorded a .462 average with 49 hits (1 home run, 8 doubles, 4 triples), 40 RBIs, 23 runs and 11 walks where his RBIs came in fourth. He also collected 5 wins with a 1.91 ERA on the mound where he racked up 80 strikeouts, the latter two of which were third-best among the seven pitchers in the Terrific Twelve.

Spanish Fort’s Dutton went all the way to the state finals with a .460 batting average where he logged the second-most hits at 57 between 2 home runs, 17 doubles and 2 triples where he led the way in doubles. Dutton also collected the second-most RBIs (41) and stolen bases (23) and the third-most runs (40) to go along with 16 walks.

Dean from Bayshore Christian posted a .435 batting average with 40 hits (5 home runs, 8 doubles, 6 triples), 41 RBIs, 32 runs, 17 walks and 1 stolen base where his triples were the clubhouse leader. He also contributed 7 wins and 3 saves to the Eagles’ pitching staff with a 3.02 ERA and 29 strikeouts.